Re: a-WEIGH-we go!! August 27- September 2
Michelizda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOO WOO!!!!!! I'm so excited for you! what a great time and great race! Bravo!
Howdy gang. I'm back from Chicago and despite a bit or soreness, i'm ok.
So, I DNFd this race. And I'm ok with it!
Background: I don't race. I've done 2 5ks and 1 sprint tri. I also don't run that much. This was an olympic/international distance tri. 1500m swim, 40km bike, 10k run. I had to rent a bike in chicago and that sucked because I wasn't 'one' with the bike, and it was a road bike (i train on hybrid) so the body positioning wasn't great. But it was ok, and I felt ok on it. I was also doing this race with my sis who trains quite seriously, so I was kinda the slacker twin. And completely ok with it.
In the wee early hours of the AM, we set up transition on an incredibly muddy hill of grass. This is the largest triathlon in the world (Guiness Book approved!) and there were about 8500 athletes. CRAZY. But I gotta say,. the event staff was amazing and things were pretty smooth. I grabbed some food to take out of transition and went to wait 3.5 hours for my wave start.
Walked around, saw lots of of my sister's friends and training buddies and was able to cheer a bunch of them on, which was great. I'm a really good cheerleader at races, so that was fun. Soonafter, I realized i didn't really pack enough food and had left a lot in transiiton. I ended up with an apple, a pack of sport beans, and a pretzel. Not enough, but I figured I'd just chill out in T1 and have a big snack.
Wave started at 9:0x and we hopped in. They said the water was 68 degrees, but I'm fairly certain it was closer to 62. Even the folks in wetsuits (I didn't wear mine..) were cold. I was FREEZING. But didn't have much time to think about it because 30 seconds after hopping in, we were off!
Sis and I met a woman in line who was scared about the swim. She had done the sprint distance before but still didn't like the water so much. So we stayed close to her before hand and pumped her up, which was fun. My sis and I (more me that her) don't look like your typical athletes, so I think she took comfort in use saying that if we could do it, she could do it too.
ANyway, it took me 1/2 mile to get warm, which sucked. Also, the wave starts were pretty close together and kind of organized strangely, so halfway through, lots of young men were swimming over me. I managed to keep my pace.. swimming freestyle mostly, and breaststroke when i choked on water or needed to sight the finish. Got to the end finally and was pulledout of the water. I was pretty dizzy and stumbled out, which was my first hint that my nutrition strategy was a big suckfest.
My swim hope: under 55 min. My time: 49:0x. (sorta. it's about a 1/4 mile from the swim out to the transition area and they don't clock your swim as being over until you get to transition. I was pretty much strolling, so my actual swim time includes my lolly-gagging. I feel like there should be a timing mat right at the swim out, but whatever...
So, at T1, I see the woman who was afraid of the swim and congratulated her! Apparently, my sis had left about 2 minutes before i arrived, so that was good. We chatted, ate, changed clothes, etc. My T1 was about 10 minutes i think. I shoveled in a powerbar, jelly beans, and some water, then was on my way.
The bike course at this race is tricky. Not technical or particularly hilly, but it's run entirely on Lake Shore Drive, which is a highway. We coccupied the 2 leftmost lanes in each direction and it was a 12 mile or so loop that we were to do twice. Problem is, there's no left shoulder and the right 2 lanes are open to traffic. So the race director says to everyone, if you have a bike issue, it's pretty much the end of the race for you. Now some people were pumping tires and changing tubes on the side, but I saw LOTS of people walking back with their bikes, looking disappointed.
About 2 miles in to my ride (I'm FLYING thanks to the skinny tires and light bike!) i go over a moderately deep crack in teh highway. My saddle rotates out of position (wasn't tight enough.. my fault. didn't re-check before leaving transition) and i was injured. Any more details are TMI. I hop off, tighten the saddle, hop back on, yelp in agony, then get moving. I spend the first loop with much of my weight on my pedals and handlebars, so my arms got tired pretty quickly. I wasn't steady enough to grab my water bottle while riding that way, so I wasn't hydrating at all and the sun was beating down.
I realized i couldn't make the whole distance that way, so i tried to sit but couldn't find a position that wasn't excruciating. made it about 2 miles into the second loop before i called it quits. It's hard because I wasn't going to die if I'd kept on, but it was agonizing. I rode back into transition, and waited for my sis.
When she rode in she knew something was up because we'd only seen each other once passing each other and i was in T2 much too early. So she started crying. I assured her i was ok and promised to see her at the finish.
So I ate a little more, ran a little (about 1.5 miles) just for the heck of it, then made my way to the end of the run. I spent about 30 min cheering people in and finally saw my sis about 1/4mile from the finish. She was walking, so i hopped onto the course and started telling her to move her ***. I cheered her on, ran with her for a bit, then let her kick it in alone the last 100m. She did great and shaved 15 min off her time from last year's race!
While she was wandering around a bit, i went back near the finish line and got to see our buddy from transition come in too.. she looked great and i'm so glad she made it through the whole thing!
So, all in all, it was a great day. I had fun, survived the cold water, beat my planned swim time, and was on course to come in under my planned bike time. I'm just annoyed that i DNFd during one of the 2 events i was most comfortable with. I fully expected any issues would be in the running segment. But even then, I figured i'd just walk, you know?
The lessons learned are: I need to train better (but i knew that before race day!), I need to nourish properly before longer races, and no more bike rentals. I rented on in last year's tri and i was miserable, but it was only for 8 miles, so i sucked it up. Not sure how serious I'll be in tri season next year, but if I decide to do out-of-town races, i need to get a road bike and a travel case and ride my own equipment that i know and am comfortable with.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for all the good luck wishes and support! It was fun!
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I setup this training plan for 8 weeks, and it just so happens that there is a local Half that I have been wanting to run for the past few years that will happen in exactly 8 weeks, so that is my goal. I plan to run it, but I don't know about racing it. I do know my limitations. I know that I can go out right know and run 13 miles, not very fast and I might collapse afterwards, but I could do it, but my main focus is just having a goal in mind. I want to be able to run it in 8 weeks and still feel pretty good about my run. Once I do that one, I will create a new training schedule and probably shoot for some 5ks, because they are more prevalent down here. My ultimate goals: Run the Marine Corps Marathon, run a Tri-athlon, and possibly one day to do an Ironman(but we'll see on that one.) 
5 Miles for Brinkley and I today at a 9:38 pace. No animal sightings, but into our 4th mile we passed a house and smelled cooking Bacon! Mmmmm - that got the hunger pangs going early today.
